Aitken beats De Vries in action-packed Baku feature race

Jack Aitken won an eventful Formula 2 feature race in Baku for Campos after passing early leader Nyck de Vries after their pit stops.

De Vries had taken the lead from pole sitter Nobuharu Matsushita at the start and pulled out a lead over his pursuers. But a slow pit stop by the ART team brought his rivals within range.

Aitken swapped positions with Nicholas Latifi in the opening laps but got himself in position to capitalise on De Vries’s slow pit stop. He emerged from the pit lane behind his rival, but nailed his chance to take the lead.

Latifi also passed De Vries, sparking an entertaining scrap between the two. They exchanged positions twice on lap 11, but the next time around De Vries decisively took the lead approaching turn one.

This put him in position to attack Aitken for the lead when the Safety Car was deployed late in the race following a collision between Guanyu Zhou and Juan Manuel Correa, which left the Renault junior driver in the barrier at turn one. However the first attempt to resume racing did not go according to plan. Sergio Sette Camara and Luca Ghiotto tangled approaching the start/finish line, forcing an extension to the Safety Car period.

Due to earlier incidents, the race was now running to time instead of its scheduled distance, meaning there were just two laps to go when the race finally resumed. Aitken held his nerve, arrived at turn one comfortably clear of De Vries, and motored home to deliver the first F2 victory for Campos.

Latifi lost the final podium place to Jordan King, while Ghiotto recovered to take sixth behind Dorian Boccolacci. Sean Gelael, who started 19th following his disqualification from qualifying, took seventh while Correa survived his brush with Zhou to claim eighth and pole position for tomorrow’s sprint race. Nikita Mazepin and Anthoine Hubert completed the podium finishers.

Mick Schumacher had an eventful race, running wide at the first corner at the start and scrapping hard with Ghiotto, before spinning out at turn 16 and causing a Virtual Safety Car period. He joined Giuliano Alesi in retirement, the Trident driver having hit team mate Ralph Boschung at the start.

Taiana Calderon retired just as a Safety Car deployment looked set to save her race. The Arden driver stalled before the formation lap, started from the pits, and delayed pitting while she waited for a Safety Car to play into her hands. However her car stopped as she approached the pit lane after Zhou caused the final Safety Car deployment.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Formula Two

• F2 champion Pourchaire to make IndyCar debut for McLaren at Long Beach
• Prema announce move into IndyCar with new two-car team in 2025
• “In my mind I won twice this weekend” says Hadjar after penalty
• Fortune finally favours Hadjar with Melbourne feature race win
• Bearman loses first F2 point of 2024 after penalty

Browse all Formula 2 articles